Watch Tolerance As a Way of Life Video

Tolerance as a Way of Life was written by Jeffrey Nawrocki Clark in 2008. In this book, the author addresses the works of Louis Wirth (1938) and Samuel Stouffer (1955) to describe a structural level of tolerance. Clark (2008) argues that tolerance is built into social structure and has evolved... Show More

Tolerance as a Way of Life was written by Jeffrey Nawrocki Clark in 2008. In this book, the author addresses the works of Louis Wirth (1938) and Samuel Stouffer (1955) to describe a structural level of tolerance. Clark (2008) argues that tolerance is built into social structure and has evolved alongside democratic culture. Clark (2008) uses three concepts to illustrate the existence of structural tolerance. The first is neccesitation, the idea that in the advanced division of labor individuals need to interact. Given that interaction is necassary, people must cooperate in order for it to be sucesfull. In the absence of sucessfull interaction, the author argues that the division of labor would fail. Second, given that people are different, and that they may or may not be inherently tolerant, Clark describes symbols that facilitate interaction. He uses money as an example, saying that its use as a medium for exchange allows individuals to have an establishable commonality. Through this commonality, interaction may exist despite individual differences. Clark also points to traffic lights and symbols such as police uniforms that provide organization and common understandings. Third, Show Less